Vitalife Laboratories in Gurgaon, the research and development lab of Mumbai-based Arch Pharmlabs Ltd, will soon be getting US FDA approval. The centre is scheduled to undergo US FDA inspection towards the end of this year.

The company's laboratory has been recognised by the Department of Science and Industrial Research under the Ministry of Science and Technology during 2006.

Disclosing this to the press here on Wednesday, Ajit Kamath, chairman and managing director of Arch Pharmalabs, said 'the DSIR approval has led to the centre undergoing US FDA inspection in the fourth quarter of this year, probably in December.' The other two labs are located in Taloja and Badlapru in Maharashtra. Both the facilities are DSIR approved. The company would be investing around Rs 30-40 crore more for expansion of the Gurgaon centre. The company also proposes to file Drug Master Files in coming period. However, it refused to provide details on DMF filings.

About the financials he said, 'As we are already strong in APIs and intermediates segment, we are not looking at finish dosage forms. We are looking at overall growth of Rs 1000 crore by 2010 in topline with eight per cent margin in the bottom-line. According to him, in the high growth lifestyle segment, the company has established a strong position in the supply of intermediates for Atorvastatin and Clopidogrel in the cardiovascular segment.

The company will also increase its human resource in coming period, including skilled and unskilled personnel. "We are looking ahead to increase the headcount to close to 1000 people in coming period. Currently, we have over 800 people working for Arch," he added.

Manoj Jain, deputy managing director of Arch Pharmalabs said "The year end revenue of Watsol was over Rs 20 crore with more than a crore in profit and the revenue of Sibra Pharmaceutials was also satisfactory at the time of acquisition". Recently the company has acquired two companies in Hyderabad. On Wednesday, the company acquired Hyderabad-based Watsol Organics Ltd for Rs 30 crore. It acquired Sibra Pharmaceuticals in Hyderabad at Rs 40 crore in April this year.